Google was going about it’s business of mapping the world when it stepped on the toes of  Britain’s Data Protection Act.  Apparently the UK Act protects unsecured wireless networks and Google didn’t know that.  They routinely mine unsecured networks for email addresses and more and that is strictly disallowed by the DPA.

A London-based technology lawyer Phil James believes the maximum $800,000 fine could be to low for some violations.   “The rewards for multinationals creating new technologies are rightly vast, but it is only fair that the penalties for inadvertently or directly breaching data liabilities are sufficiently restraining,” James said.

What else does Google mine from unsecured networks?  How do they use the information?  Hmmm…